Budget cuts force MCG to freeze some jobs

The Medical College of Georgia & PPG would be profitable if the were concerened about collecting debts that are due them, they have choosen to us a collectoin agency out side of our area and they are more interested in receiving money from the gvt than filing insurance claims correctly and collecting the money due for services that their patients have received. They will persue people that live in low income area but cancel debt due by people who the doctors and administrators choose to give professional discounts, or because they know the doctor and choose to complain about the price, These practices really nned to be investigated, they have no desire to collect money for services that were rendered but wait on a hand out from the government and waste tax payers money. I know the treat indigent people but this comment is not directed to the people who qualify to receive free services.

They need the money for Athens, I'm sure.

"A search for faculty for that satellite school (Athens) will continue, in part because those positions are unlikely to be filled until late this fiscal year or into next fiscal year and would not impact this year’s budget." Does this sound logical? We are trying to cut the budget by 10% this year, but we can do anything we want as long as the bill is not due until next year? This includes hiring faculty for a new medical school? Next year additional expenditures will exceed the 10% cut by tens of millions due to hiring the Athens faculty. This is absurd.

You are SO right about PPG. Their collection and billing is a joke. They will send bill after bill saying "0" due, waiting on insurance to pay, then the next bill is referring you to a collection agency. And I had a bill that was over $1000, I made monthly payments for a few months then quit getting bills. I called, they could not even find it. That actually happened more than once. Yep, they could collect a lot more if they knew what they were doing.

The need to merge back and get ride of some of those CIOs and director of Information Services, Director of applications, Director of this, director of that etc....

I wonder how much money is being wasted having MCG Police play crossing guard because people do not know how to watch where they are going in a cross walk. Simple solution to the cross walk issue without having to build a pedestrian ramp....the traffic lights make one complete cycle...then the cross walks cycle with all the lights turned red. They do it in the major cities why not do it here? It may not save a ton of money, but it sure does beat paying a police officer to stand at every single cross walk on MCG Campus to baby sit our future doctors!

Lost in translation...

Obviously, you have no idea what is going on at MCG's campus. The part time crossing guards work about 4 hours a day at 7 bucks an hour.

people at MCG know how to watch where they are going and there is a joke among us that each time we step in that crosswalk, we are gambling on death. It's the drivers who don't yield to pedestrians while they are in the crosswalk that cause the terror and need for a crossing guard.

As far as changing the traffic light...you are not the genious to come up with this idea. the DOT is in charge of it, not MCG, and it took FOREVER to get them to put a 15 second delay at the intersection of 15th and harper.

Nice snarky comment on babysitting our future doctors. the condescending attitude is so attractive. If you knew what was really going on, then you would know that the majority of people that make that cross are hospital and campus employees, not the students (those "dummies" have a less confusing parking lot thats adjacent, oh, excuse me, close to the campus in order to minimize supervision.)

Too bad there is a hiring freeze, or else they could enlist you as the new resident sage.

When I was going out to MCG you always had to make that dash across 15th street. I never used the crosswalks because they're designed as death traps, as it takes but one speeder to plow you down. You'll see others cross the street a tad further down, so you can better judge the speed of a moving car. How times changed. now we have crossguards for MDs. Do they have them to go across Laney Walker (the student parking lot and research building to the library), too????

Over the years, several people were killed there crossing the street. All of those streets are especially hazardous for someone who walks slowly, due to physical impairments or age, uses a wheelchair, or is vision impaired. A healthy person takes things like crossing streets for granted- but it's different if you're not.

Hey MCG Student...if they are part time crossing guards, then why are they wearing POLICE uniforms??? Bureaucratic BS is what has MCG in it's financial problems. Not to mention all of the waste that goes on down there. Half of the workers at MCG are damn lazy and the positions are not needed. Look at the system as a whole and get rid of the useless people that work there, including all of the high paid "OFFICIALS". This is the problem everyone in this day in time. Everyone is scared to say what they really feel and actually do something to solve the damn problems. And as far as working 4 hours a day??? They work all day long...it has become a full time day job for these POLICE OFFICERS!!!

lost in translation... I am sorry this has pretty much turned into diatribe, but I really found your arrogant comment about future doctors needing a babysitter to be unsettling.

I can tell you this...The crossing guards often wear police-like garb in order to gain the appearance of a police officer (to get respect). Sometimes a real mcg police officer has to direct traffic because there is a shortage of people who want to work 4 hour shifts at two different times of the day for only $7/per hour.

concerning the officials...please tell me the specific high paid officials and other positions that need to be dissolved. half of the workers are lazy? do you mean half of the doctors that work 12 hour days and sometime sleep in an on-call room, the nurses that work 12 hour shifts, or the social workers that help families who just lost a loved one. Your're right, we could use less of those people.

like I said, to bad there is a hiring freeze or the high paid officials could hire you so you could "tell em' like it is"

"All of those streets are especially hazardous for someone who walks slowly, due to physical impairments or age, uses a wheelchair, or is vision impaired. A healthy person takes things like crossing streets for granted- but it's different if you're not." ---- I had a femur broken Corgi. One leg is shorter than another. I won't run marathons due to it and the pain over the years, but I can cross 15th street (and have) without dying. What's the problem is folks aren't used to being pedestrians and judge distances like they're in cars (see this w-a-y too much). It takes more time to cross on foot, and that vehicle has to be further down the street to make it across, than being in a vehicle and trying to make it before the light changes. Crosswalks are fine on paper, but putting them at the intersections ensures folks will be hit by that guy/gal wanting to get past a stop light (plus the light is too short to allow time for cars to stop and walk 4+ lanes -- a turn light is longer). They just need to make a pedestrian bridge, like they did to connect the VA to MCG.